Ah, Bermuda. That charming island only two hours away from Philadelphia. Turquoise waters, white sands, palm fronds wafting in the gentle breeze as one sips a "Dark and Stormy" on the beach.

Or:

Nasty, turbulent flight with the nagging knowledge that occasionally the conditions on arrival are too rough to land and the plane has to turn back. But land we did . . . and it's raining. *Huzzah*

The next day, it's not raining, but it is overcast and getting progressively windier as the day goes on. We go to our meetings, finish up with a lunch and high-tail it back to the airport to go home. Turquoise water? Yep, I saw that!

[Out of the plane's window as we took off.]

I did manage to organize the pictures we took over the weekend at Stephani's. Here's the link for the Stephani 2004 trip report.

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest said Wednesday that he asked coach Rick Carlisle for time off because of a busy schedule that included promoting a soon-to-be released rap album, which led to his two-game benching.

Artest said that he asked Carlisle for as much as a month off to heal his aching body and recover from a particularly busy schedule.

“My body has been aching, I was going to take some time off and I said it the wrong way,” Artest said. “Everything that happened wasn’t too negative. I kind of surprised the team by wanting to take some games off, just to get back together, maybe stay home for a little bit, rest a little bit and come back.”

He certainly surprised Carlisle, who said Tuesday that the situation, “compromised the integrity of the team. It’s a private team matter, and I’m going to leave it at that.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Artest said. “They probably expected a little more; expected me to play every game. Everybody’s different. It’s early in the season, so I feel like I could take some time off early and be ready for the long stretch.”

The 24-year-old is scheduled to release his debut rap album later this month and has been spending a lot of time making promotional appearances.

“I’ve been doing a little bit too much music, just needed the rest,” Artest said. “I’ve still got my album coming out Nov. 23. After the album comes out I’m going to make sure all of my time is focused on winning a championship.”

Gee, it's awfully grown-up of him to decide to focus on the championship - after his album comes out, of course. This clown is paid a reported $6.2 million a year by the Pacers, and he seems surprised that they actually expected him to, like, play basketball instead of concentrating on his career as a rap artist.